Indian River County Commissioner Tim Zorc supports the short-term and long-term cleanup efforts of Bethel Creek in beautiful Vero Beach. Bethel Creek, a finger of the lagoon on the barrier island, suffers from dirty, stagnant water because it is too far from the Fort Pierce Inlet (south) and the Sebastian Inlet (north) to get much tidal flow.
The short-term solution for this polluted area is to ‘air it out’ by utilizing 10 aerators along the length of the creek. Placed just above the muck at the bottom of the creek, the aerators would circulate air to break down the organic matter, much like a wastewater treatment plant.
A proposed long-term solution for Bethel Creek is to ‘flush it out’ by pumping clean ocean water into this polluted area of the lagoon. A similar project has been “a great success” at the Destin Harbor in Florida’s Panhandle, Tim Zorc recently told the City Council.
The Bethel Creek project is still in the early planning stages, says Tim Zorc, but the idea is to pump offshore ocean water through a pipe under State Road A1A into the upper end of the creek. “We’re not talking about cutting a new inlet,” Zorc said, “just a pump and pipe. … In my mind, you can’t do anything that would make the lagoon much worse. I don’t know how much worse it can get.”
Full article here on TCPalm: Bethel Creek pollution cleanup: Vero Beach, Indian River County borrow Destin Harbor idea